Mets vs. Diamondbacks Preview: Game #99 — Matt Harvey vs. Wade Miley

Today's game notes, courtesy of @Mets.

Teams: Mets vs. Diamondbacks
Date: Thursday, July 26, 2012 • 9:40 p.m
Location: Chase Field • Phoenix, AZ
Starters: RHP Matt Harvey (ML debut) vs. LHP Wade Miley (11-5, 3.02)
TV/Radio: SNY • WFAN • WQBU
Info: Game #99 • Road Game #47

Lineup

Ruben Tejada – SS
Daniel Murphy – 2B
David Wright – 3B
Scott Hairston – RF
Ike Davis – 1B
Jason Bay – LF
Andres Torres – CF
Rob Johnson – C
Matt Harvey – RHP

METS AT A GLANCE: The Mets have lost six straight games, equaling their season-high...New York lost a season-high six straight games from July 8-18...The last time the team had a longer losing streak was April 10-16, 2011, when they dropped seven in a row...New York has lost 12 of its last 13 games...The Mets are 4-15 in July after posting winning months in April (13-10), May (15-10) and June (15-13) ...The Mets went 0-6 on their recent homestand, after getting swept by the Dodgers and Nationals...It was the eighth time in franchise history the Mets had a winless homestand of six or more games...The last time in happened was August 13-18, 2002.

ROSTER MOVE: Before tonight’s game, the Mets will recall catcher Rob Johnson from Buffalo (AAA) of the International League...After yesterday’s game, the Mets optioned catcher Mike Nickeas to Buffalo ...Johnson will wear #16 and will be available for tonight’s game....Johnson, 30, was with the Mets from May 8-June 1 earlier this year...He hit .313 (10-32) with one double and one RBI in 11 games with the Mets...Johnson hit .207 (34-164) with 20 runs scored, seven doubles, one triple, four home runs and 15 RBI in 45 games for the Bisons this season...The 6-1, 220-pounder has hit .203 (138-681) with 36 doubles, eight home runs and 59 RBI in 239 career major league games with the Mariners, Padres and Mets.

SINCE THE BREAK: New York is 1-11 since the All-Star break...The only other season in which the team had a worst record after the break was in 1962 when the Mets were 1-14 after the first of the two All-Star Games that year.

ON THE ROAD: New York has lost seven of their last eight road games and are 21-25 overall on the road this year...David Wright leads the majors with a .390 road batting average.

MATT HARVEY: Will make his major league debut tonight...Harvey, 23, was 7-5 with a 3.68 ERA (45 earned runs/110.0 innings) and ranks third in the International League with 112 strikeouts in 20 starts for Buffalo this year...He was named to the International League All-Star team and tossed 2.0 scoreless and hitless innings with two strikeouts in the Triple-A All-Star Game, earning MiLB.com Top Star honors for his performance.

FIRST-ROUND STARTS: Matt Harvey, who was the Mets’ first-round pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft will become the 10th pitcher selected in the first-round by the Mets to start a game for the club...The others and the year they were drafted are: Les Rohr (1965), Jon Matlack (1967), Randy Sterling (1969), Tim Leary (1979), Dwight Gooden (1982), Paul Wilson (1994), Aaron Heilman (2001), Philip Humber (2004) and Mike Pelfrey (2005)...Two other Mets’ first-round picks, Billy Traber (2000) and Scott Kazmir (2002), started games in the majors, but not for New York.

2010 TO THE MAJORS: Matt Harvey will become the 20th player from the 2010 First-Year Player Draft to appear in a major league game...Mets lefthander Josh Edgin made his debut earlier this month after being selected in the 30th round in 2010 out of Francis Marion University.

MURPHY SETS MARK: Daniel Murphy hit .523 (23-44) at home in July, the highest home batting average in team history for a calendar month...The previous mark was held by Darryl Hamilton who batted .486 (18-37) at home in August, 1999...The last major leaguer to hit over .500 (min. 40 plate appearances) at home was Cleveland’s Jamey Carroll (.525) in June, 2008...Research courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau.

MORE MURPH: Daniel Murphy has 12 hits (six for extra bases) in his last 22 at-bats (.545)…Over his last 23 games, dating to June 26, he is hitting .419 (36-86) with 18 RBI and 17 extra-base hits.

FOUR OR MORE: The Mets have allowed at least four runs in each of their last 13 games dating back to July 8, the second-longest such streak in franchise history...The Mets allowed four or more runs in each of the first 14 games of the 1996 season...Information courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau.

FACING ALL-STARS: The Mets will face Wade Miley tonight after facing Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez in the team’s final two games vs. Washington...All three starters were named to the 2012 National League All-Star team.

LAST START: Took the loss in the Buffalo Bisons’ 11-0 loss to the Charlotte Knights on July 21...Pitched 5.0 innings, allowing seven runs, six earned, seven hits and two home runs...Walked two and struck out six.

ACTIVATED: Harvey was placed on the Mets’ taxi squad on July 23 and was activated to the 25-man roster on July 24...At the time of his promotion, ranked second in the International League with 112 strikeouts...Also tied for the Bisons lead in wins (seven) and had the second-best ERA (3.68) on the team among qualifying pitchers.

TEN STRIKEOUTS: Struck out double-digits in three starts for Buffalo this season...Fanned 10 in 6.0 innings on April 20 at Syracuse, then got a season-best 11 on May 18 vs. Gwinnett...Struck out another 10 vs. Pawtucket on June 14.

FIRST-ROUND METS: Harvey is the 10th pitcher chosen in the first round by the Mets to make a start for the team...He is the first since RHP Mike Pelfrey made his Mets debut on July 8, 2006...Including Harvey, eight of the the 10 are righties.

2012 ALL-STAR: Named MiLB.com Top Star honors in the 2012 Triple-A All-Star Game on July 11...Threw two hitless innings, striking out two.

STRONG STRETCH: From April 20-June 3, went 5-0 with a 2.68 ERA and 52 strikeouts in nine starts.

HOME RUN: Hit a two-run home run on April 25 at Lehigh Valley...Also tossed 7.0 shutout innings to earn the win.

2011 HIGHLIGHTS: In his first professional season, finished with a combined 13-5 record and a 3.32 ERA (50 earned runs/135.2 innings) in 26 starts with St. Lucie (A) of the Florida State League and Binghamton (AA) of the Eastern League...Was 8-2 with a 2.37 ERA in 14 starts for St. Lucie and 5-3 with a 4.53 ERA in 12 games for Binghamton.

MINOR LEAGUE LEADER: Led Mets minor leaguers in wins (13) and strikeouts (156) in 2011.

FSL HONORS: Was the FSL Pitcher of the Week for April 7-17, 2011, his first 10 days in professional baseball...Went 3-0 with a 0.00 ERA, allowing one unearned run in 16.0 innings during that stretch.

ST. LUCIE MVP: Was the 2011 Sterling Award recipient at St. Lucie, emblematic of the team MVP.

2011 FUTURES GAME: Worked 0.1 innings and picked up a save in the Futures All-StarGame on July 10, 2011 at Chase Field.

HOT START IN ST. LUCIE: Won his first four starts in St. Lucie and allowed just one unearned run over 22.0 innings...Surrendered 14 hits, walked eight and recorded 27 strikeouts over the same span.